Sri Lanka Video
The Sri Lanka Video is a central part of the alternate reality game The Lost Experience. The game proceeded by gradually providing glyphs that each revealed a short video fragment of a longer sequence numbering 70 in total. According to the game, Rachel Blake shot this video while in Sri Lanka in mid-July 2006. She claimed that the information revealed is so damaging that "it will tear the Hanso Foundation apart." She deemed it too risky to reveal in its entirety, so she chose to distribute fragments hidden throughout the internet, and accessed via clues and glyphs. Players were required to locate codes to enter on the website hansoexposed.com, and each code revealed its accompanying video fragment. However the fragments were not revealed in the correct order, so needed to be sequenced. The final fragment was revealed on September 8, 2006. Video :For an individual description of each of the 70 segments of the video, see: Sri Lanka Video/by segment Summary The video comes in two parts. In the first half, Alvar Hanso explains the DHARMA Initiative in a secret internal film. The revelation of the meaning of the Numbers was promised as part of TLE, and is contained in this half. Hanso explains their research is intended to save the world. He provides history of the motivation, explaining that after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States and U.S.S.R., via the U.N. Security Council, commissioned the calculation of the Valenzetti Equation, spearheaded by Italian mathematician Enzo Valenzetti, which is claimed to compute the time remaining until the human race destroys itself. The Numbers are revealed to be the "core environmental and human factors" in the equation. Hanso claims that humanity may be saved by changing these numbers through various environmental manipulations. He also reveals that the island was used as a research station to attempt such a manipulation to change the numbers. The second half of the video appears to be clandestinely-filmed footage filmed by Rachel Blake of Thomas Mittelwerk explaining a "radical" Hanso Foundation intervention project to his staff. He begins speaking as the Orientation Film finishes playing on a television monitor; it seems that this video is the one seen in the first half, above, despite its much steadier and clearer video quality. Mittelwerk explains that two villages have been intentionally infected with a Hanso-engineered virus and that the Hanso Foundation's cover story is to provide a treatment vaccine. He reveals that their goals include a mortality rate no higher or lower than exactly 30%, as well as testing of the deceased to confirm genetic targets of their virus. In response to a question from the audience, he justifies the human cost of the operation in terms of saving humanity. There appears to be a splice missing from the clip, then Mittelwerk notices Rachel Blake's hidden position and she appears to be near capture as the video ends. However, she must have escaped, or have been released, according to the timeline of the game, her appearance at Comic-Con 2006 and the distribution of the video via The Lost Experience. Discoveries The producers of Lost promised that The Lost Experience would reveal new information, including the meaning of the numbers. In brief, some of the concrete knowledge that was revealed by the Sri Lanka Video include: #The Numbers are revealed to have been core factors of an equation (The Valenzetti Equation) predicting the end of humanity. Running the equation, the end result has been the same for the last 30 years, those numbers. Mittelwerk comments that they still have no idea what the numbers actually mean. #There exists a DHARMA Initiative radio tower which broadcasts the Numbers on the Island. #Alvar Hanso and the DHARMA Initiative claim to be attempting to save humanity. The DHARMA Initiative was also set up to primarily work on the Valenzetti equation. Transcript Trivia General *Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. An island nation in South Asia, it was until 1972 known as Ceylon. It has also been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times and is one of the few remaining abodes of Buddhism in South Asia. it is full of lush tropical forests, white beaches and diverse landscape throughout along with rich biodiversity. The country lays claim to a long and colorful history of over three thousand years, having one of the longest documented histories in the world. *In Lost:Via Domus, Elliott reads a newspaper which says that a chemical nerve has been stolen from Hanso Foundation labs located in Sri Lanka, Sabaragamuwa province. See also *DHARMA Initiative films *Norway Video *Psychology Orientation test video *Rachel Blake *Sri Lanka Video/by segment de:Sri-Lanka-Video es:Vídeo de Sri Lanka fr:Vidéo du Sri Lanka pl:Film ze Sri Lanki zh:斯里兰卡影片 Category:Orientation Category:Videos Category:The Lost Experience Category:DHARMA Initiative